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RPlog:Camerata Ostile Blockade Run
It took some doing to convince certain folks to get in board with the notion of running supplies in through the Imperial blockade. And it took some doing to gather volunteers to escort the freighters. The New Republic preferred volunteers, but of course, military pilots aren't really given the opportunity to say no if it comes down to a direct order. Still, a flight of 4 X-Wings has been detailed to escort duty. Led by 2nd Lt. Kyrin Sh'vani of Ghost Squadron, the other three pilots are chattering to themselves through the comm even as they keep their eyes on their scopes and such. No one's under the impression this is a milk run, but some pilots simply prefer these things over other duties. Kyrin herself seems to be humming to herself as Zulu 8 makes a particularly vulgar comment about someone of his acquaintance, while Zulu 7 frowns at something on his scope. After a second, it vanishes, and the laughter filling the cockpit of Zulu 5 is enough to distract him. "You had better hope that your mate does not hear what you have said," Kyrin states in her unconsciously formal phrasing, her grey eyes looking up from her instruments to visually inspect the freighter they're escorting. After such a long run, it's time to start expecting company. "Be wary," she adds, reminding her compeers that they're nearing the highest level of danger for such a mission. "We are nearly there." Krieg, in Darksword 2 with his weapons officer, Blitz, make their way in the patrol. He's in charge of it, the duty being something that he is not very fond of, but has the occasional fun of running into something as they go. Though his last meeting with Petra Doom and about failure has him worried that if they don't have results in this mission he may as well be a dead man at that rate. However, these thoughts are put to rest as their scanners pick up some form of contact. Blitz says to him, "Hey Krieg, we have inbound. Bring us around; I'm activating the concussion missile systems." Krieg nods to the other man then says over the comm, "war Shrikes, cover us. We have inbound contacts. Engage the freighter, disable the engines. That is our first priority. That freighter does not escape, even if it means we all sacrifice our lives." With that said he comes about, punching up the power in the bomber preparing for the attack run. Despite the tense situation, Shael can't help but crack a smile at the starfighter pilots' casual banter. For the most part, though, the young pilot of the freighter stays off the comm. She may be putting her life and her ship on the line just as much as they are this time around, but she's not a part of their group. She keeps her eyes nervously on her piloting, flicking her eyes over to her scanners occasionally to see if they're picking anything up. Though she's sure her escort will be quick to let her know once the trouble starts. Damien sits in his cockpit laying back slightly in his crashcouch. With his right hand gently moving the yoke he is pushing his fighter forward. Without even looking at his scanners he knows that behind him to either side, in exact formation position, are his 3 wingmen. Looking out his viewport slightly to port he can see his 2 other flight mates flying cover for the bombers. Leading that group is Hammer, a short-term transfer from a nearby vessel who had run into rebel runners not long ago. As Krieg issues his orders the HUD in his fighter starts giving him information coming in, "Roger that Darksword, War Shrikes going hot." Switching over his systems he clicks on flight comms, "Loki to Hammer, you heard the man, keep those birds safe. We'll keep the gnats off your backs." With that he pulls his ship back and up taking his group 'up' away from the bombers and other fighters in preparation for...something. Zulu 5's laughter cuts off abruptly. "We've got company!" he says, his young voice both eager for the fight and also a bit scared. He's relatively new to the party. Within Ghost 4, Kyrin's voice is a calming influence. "Roger that, Five. Camerata Ostile, we have inbound hostiles. We will do our best to ensure your safety. Five, you are with me, Seven and Eight, you are together. I read two bombers. They are our priority. The freighter must get through, though it cost our lives." Receiving acknowledgement from all three of her cohorts, the Chyleni adds, "Weapons hot. Let us do the job we are paid to do." 7 and 8 break off from Ghost 4 and Zulu 5, focusing on the two bombers, while the other two X-Wings seem to be setting course for the TIEs. Kyrin's the first to line up a target, one of the War Shrikes, and she presses the trigger on her stick. Zulu 5 seems to be having some trouble lining up the next available TIE in his sights, while 7 and 8 can be found trying to get a lock on the bombers, 7's X-Wing spouting vulgarities into the comm as red bolts of death fire at the bomber in the lead. "That is anatomically impossible, and I do not recommend saying that to a Wookiee's face," Kyrin mutters softly. Checking the scanners to verify position and identification, the two pilots acquire a lock onto the freighter. Blitz coordinates with the other bomber, the two are in close formation as they begin their attack run. With the computers working together in time and the run underway, the bombers arm their warheads. Meanwhile, Krieg and the other pilot make a concerted effort to not get hit by the imminent fire that will come from the fighters and the freighter. They have a good ID on it, just that there is that inevitable round of fire that comes before they can get a good lock and open up. As they watch the War Shrikes go out and do their job, they look for anything that may pick them up. So far, so good. The incoming fire lights their forward viewscreen, and their bomber wingman doesn't get hit. He, however, is trying not to maneuver into any of their escorts, cannot get clear, and ends up taking a hit to the shields, but nothing that will drop them as of yet. Krieg comments to Blitz, that was a close one, but nothing damaged too badly yet. Keep that targeting computer up!" The moment one of the fighter pilots announces the arrival of company, Shael feels her heart jump up into her throat. Right. So much for her silent pleas to have an uneventful ride through the blockade. At least this should make for a more interesting story to share with Whisler and the others when she gets back safely. Maybe she could even embellish it some, surely the X-Wing pilots wouldn't mind that, as long as she made them come out sounding good. "Good luck out there," Shael says into the comm, trying not to think too hard about the comment involving a wookiee. Now is not the time to get distracted. She starts juking the controls, trying to prevent the closing bombers from being able to get a good lock on her, and reaches over to fire at interceptors, as they race into range ahead of the bombers they're protecting. She hasn't had much experience, though, trying to pilot and fire at the same time, and doesn't hold out too much hope for the success of her shots. Standing on the bridge of the ISC Broadsword Captain Caiton observes the progress of the engagement between her fighters and the terrorist insurgents attempting to run the blockade and return to do the task again. A cool smile forms on her face as she listens to the communications between her fighters and the bridge personnel as the encounter unfolds. Her XO brings her a progress report to review and joins her at the larger of the windows to observe the action from there. Loki shakes his head as his shields light up for a brief period of time as he gets hit, "Alright boys...they've started it our turn to make them wish they had stayed on Imperial Center...Bravo flight take that son of a bantha that fired at me. We have her wing. Charlie flight how are you doing over there?" As he speaks he pushes his fighter forward towards the two incoming X-wings. As Hammer responds the 4 Interceptors fire in unison towards their targets, "Hammer to Loki, Nicostick has taken some minor damage to his shields from two hits, we are engaging the enemy fighters." And with that, across the battlefield the two escorts return fire onto each of the X-wings. Zulus 7 and 8 seem to be on a teamwork sort of vibe this day. As 7 lights up the lead bomber's shields for a few seconds, 8 seems to be intent on Krieg's ride, settling back in his seat and thumbing the trigger. There are no more curse words coming through the comm as the X-Wing pilots fall back into the grunted and clipped speech typical of their kind. As Zulu 5 tries to light up Loki's wingman again, Kyrin realizes she's also the subject of incoming fire, and a quick snap-roll is suitable for the escape. She uses the roll as a means to keep formation with Zulu 5, braking the cut the turn tighter and line up Loki in her own sights. "Camerata, you keep going to Coruscant, no matter what. Leave these to us," Kyrin says to the freighter. "May Kallindel light your way." A Chyleni benediction that hopefully will do some good. A pinpoint of light flashes, and then the sleek Sardakh Cruiser comes out of hyperspace, appearing out of the point of light. It glides through the starry sky towards the planet, its engines noiseless in the vacuum of space. The incoming fire does not let up, instead it would just get worse. Knowing full well that this would happen, Krieg presses on with the bomber. They still had a job to do, with or without shields. Blitz keeps his head in the targeting system, calling out to him minor course corrections. "Keep it steady, left a little, increase speed, steady, steady..." The computer gives them a good lock finally and Blitz triggers the firing mechanism, letting loose three concussion missiles. Not far behind their salvo was another from their second bomber; they had the same thing in mind. Blitz calls, "Weapons away, retargeting for their engines." Krieg nods as he concentrates on keeping their bomber out of enemy fire, a task that was not easy. "Broadsword, Darksword lead. Launch the alert shuttle once the freighter's shields go down and have them move to the standby location." Krieg doesn't hesitate, but moves out of more incoming fire. Things were definitely getting heated, but nothing they couldn't handle so far. He's able to take a full hit to just a glancing hit, it'll have to be good enough for now as the ship vibrates. "Trust me, I'm not stopping," Shael reassures Kyrin fervently, as she keeps her freighter inbound for the planet's surface. She's wary, however, of keeping herself on too straight of an approach to prevent the TIEs from predicting her trajectory. Keeping one hand on the control yoke, she continues to vary her course at random, her engines going full throttle. Despite her best efforts, though, it's not enough to keep her away from the full volley of concussion missiles. Why does it always have to be concussion missiles? The first one grazes her shields, exploding and taking the other two with it. The second set of concussion missiles hits her more strongly, and Shael gives out an alarmed squeak as she sees her shields go down. "Shields down, trying to re-route power." The light cruiser's pilot, Wibble, sees the flashes of light from his cockpit. "Well shibang!" he exclaims cheerfully, then looks about and realizes quickly that there are Imperials surrounding the planet. He clearly hasn't been keeping up with the news, but goes into full battle mode in the blink of an eye, swatting several levers. His crew is half asleep, but they scramble quickly to where they're supposed to be. Wibble then hails the strike cruiser, putting his engines at half-speed. "This is an Independent, affiliated with the CSA..." he bluffs. "For CSA observation purposes, I've been asked to land on Coruscant as a neutral party. Transmission code...two-two-four-four, B-one-zero as verification..." he continues, punching in a half-assed forgery of a message. Zulus 7 and 8, still hounding the two bombers which are hounding the freighter they're escorting, keep crossing paths in an effort to ensure that they themselves aren't targets. It makes locking onto the bombers harder, but with the freighter's shields down, it makes their job that much more imperative. "Eight, I'm on the leader," Seven says, locking onto Krieg's ship and letting his X-Wing continue talking for him. The red bolts dart across the depths of space, pretty if one wasn't in the way. Meanwhile, Ghost 4 and Zulu 5 are in a mess of their own, Loki getting a rather harsh tagging in on Zulu 5, whose shields light up and then flare out, the green laser bolts stitching a deadly pattern on the hull. It's only through wrenching the fighter completely out of formation that saves his life, probably. However, that leaves Kyrin on her own against Loki and three other TIE fighters. She doesn't back down, aiming for Loki's wingman and firing. Their first salvo hit well, and their break from the run was executed nicely. Looping back around the two bombers and two-fighter escort. Krieg calls up to the other 4. "Keep those X-Wings off of us, we're going in on an attack run for the engines." Just as he says this he notices another ship enter the area, but doesn't do anything about it. He'll wait for orders from the Broadsword on identification and course of action. For now they must stop the imminent threat in front of them. Spreading their forces out at this point would be a bad idea, and more stuff would get through than if they focused in. The four craft in unison get good lock, opening fire on the freighter, concussion missiles from the bombers and lasers from the fighters looking to destroy/disable the engines. As for his bomber wingman, he takes a good hit to the aft shields, but not enough to drop them yet. Those X-Wings were persistent... "Darksword this is Broadsword," Captain Caiton replies in her usual cool clear voice, "standing by with shuttle," she confirms. It goes without saying that the shuttle in question is flight ready, everything and everyone in place, merely waiting the signal to launch from the hangar and enter the fracas. Her XO turns to one of the ensigns and relays an additional order to the flight deck to keep everything rolling accordingly. "Captain, sensors indicate that the shields are down on the target." Lynae issues the order that launches the shuttle from the Hangar of the Broadsword, it's cargo and crew fully armed and ready for combat. Even as the order is carried out the ensign again indicates the arrival of another ship jumping into the engagement, and not just another one of the small freighters or fighters, a light cruiser instead. Lynae begins calmly giving orders, the Broadsword charging to full alert status and beginning to maneuver into a better firing position. "Weapons, I want firing solutions on all viable targets on my mark," she commands, letting her TO take over from there as she moves to the navigation console, "Bring us around to here," she indicates calmly, the Broadsword responding smoothly and beginning to close the distance between their station point and the ships attempting to continue to batter at the blockade. Her communications officer replies to the incoming transmission after glancing at the Captain for confirmation, "Negative," the comm officer replies clearly, "all incoming traffic is stopped for the duration of this blockade. Desist in your course and vector away from Coruscant and the blockade taskforce." The incoming transmission of verification code appears to be good, but in light of the current combat status the orders for the blockade stand. "Final warning, Independent freighter," the communications officer warns in a clear voice, so as to not be accused later of not issuing fair warning. "The blockade stands, any attempt to circumvent the blockade is considered an act of aggression and will be treated accordingly." With that last warning the TO cues up a firing solution on the Cruiser. Known for her in-your-face flying style and attitude, Raven is humming under her breath in the confines of her fighter, the com silent on her end except when she keys in to reply to commands. The MKII at her command responds seamlessly to the instructions she gives it, the targeting computer singing out the firing solutions on the X-wing in her sights. The combat, as always, to her seems to be a ferocious ballet and she maneuvers her MKII around for a better shot, rotating her shields accordingly while the other three in her segment of the battle do the same. Oddly enough, she's humming a snippet of classical Coruscant opera as she finds the best targeting solution and fires accordingly. One of her wingmen takes a little damage, vectoring off into a neat snap-spiral to swing around and fire on the X-wing from another angle. MXII-3 gets hit hard, the resulting swearing and erratic piloting indicative of the severity of the damage and falls back to assess damage. Shael's day is quickly getting much, much worse. Her best efforts to keep the TIE bombers off her tail seem to next to useless, as the next volley hits her pretty squarely in engines. After letting out a brief burst of highly impolite words, in a few different languages, she clarifies her statement by adding, "That was bad. My engines aren't doing so good." No, things definitely weren't doing so good at all. Slowed to a painful limp, maneuvering becomes next to worthless. Setting herself for a straight heading towards the planet, Shael focuses all her attention on returning fire. For whatever good it'll do her. She'll sure feel better about herself, though, if she can manage to take at least one of those fighters out, though. The light cruiser continues at half-speed, respectfully. It again hails the ISC. "This ship is under the protection of the CSA, and has authorization to pass through the blockade. Please reference the pass codes given," the voice chirps up again. His crew has gathered itself up now, the engineering prepping for any kind of quick run it might need to do. Despite the calmness of the X-Wings' patrol leader, things are not looking good for the Camerata Otile. Nor are they looking good for the X-Wings themselves. With Zulu 5 still fighting his half-vaped X-Wing, the astromech trying to repair a stabilizer that had gotten fried, Ghost 4 is left alone to keep plugging away at Alex Raven's ship, the winged alien spinning her ship on its primary axis to keep it out of Loki's line of fire. However, Zulus 7 and 8 are having their own problems, with light strikes making their shields spark, but not yet really doing all that much damage, other than rattling the fillings in their pilots' teeth. "Dammit!" Zulu 7's pilot snarls as the freighter seems to be taking the brunt of damage. Kyrin simply orders her team to form up, even Zulu 5. "As one, we will strike their ships and seek to scatter them." While she takes on Alex Raven, 7 and 8 keep up their firing upon Krieg and his wingman as best they can. They hit well the second run, it would seem that all is in order so far, the operation going as planning had stated before. Blitz says to Krieg, "Looks like that new vessel is wanting to make a run of the blockade, we'll have to be ready for another strike." Krieg nods and replies as he brings the bomber around for one more run, "Indeed, we'll get him. This freighter is going to stop here for now." As they come around one of the fighters takes a good hit, blowing out his shields. He's there to cover the bombers though, and that is what he keeps on doing. The formation comes about, not really focusing at the other X-Wings and TIEs for now, acquiring a new lock on the freighter's engines. The bombers and TIEs open up again; when the missiles are away he calls out. "Broadsword, freighter should be disabled for the boarding party to come aboard. Shifting priority to the fighters and our new arrival." He calls their escort, "War Shrikes 5 and 6, stay on our freighter here and make sure she doesn't go anywhere. Cover the shuttle as it comes inbound." As they break from the run, however, the second bomber gets hit hard, blowing the shields out, and doing superficial damage to the hull, but nothing more. Taking the Comm to reply to the light cruiser, Captain Caiton responds to the polite hail even as she signaling her TO to fire when ready. "Broadsword to captain of Light Cruiser," she begins clearly. "You were warned, and I only issue on warning. Your code, while it is confirmed, does not grant you free access to Coruscant. And you should have that knowledge and not be trying my patience." Not known for her magnanimous attitude, Lynae lives up to form and signals her TO to target the engines of the Light Cruiser with a pair of shots from the Broadswords Ion Cannons. The XO coordinates the communications between the fighters and the shuttle vectoring in towards the freighter now that the shields have been disabled. Her cargo is a unit of ST's in fully equipped EVA armor for hand-to-hand combat. "Weapons hot," the XO commands, "prisoners are acceptable," he adds, after all, it's more fun that way. "Launch Black Squadron and the remainders of War Shrike," the captain commands while the battle is fully engaged, at last. The MKII that Raven is piloting takes a series of heavy hits from the X-Wing she's dancing with, the systems beginning to blink that alarming red color as warning lights go on and begin to blink in a steady cadence to the computer listing what systems were damaged and what remains. She fights the MKII and vectors away, spinning out on a long curve that pulls her away from the X-wing for the moment while figuring what systems remain viable. A calm sense of purpose settles in and she spins around once more, the MKII no where near as cleanly running as before, but she lines up on the X-Wing again and begins a convoluted run, fighting the ships damage to make this run count. What weapons she has working she fires on the X-wing. MKII-2 takes another hit as well but continues to engage, doing a crazy kamikaze run before pulling up at the last possible second and firing once close enough to make those rounds count. MKII-3 and MKII-4 continue their close combat with the X-Wings they've been assigned too, the comm chatter flows in broken bits of comments, tersely spoken but everything in a focused intent voice. Shael is thrown forward, hard, in her crash webbing as the latest salvo crashes into her engines. She lets out a few very uncomplimentary words about concussion missiles, and watches in horror as her ship begins to drift dead in space, still headed on its last course: towards the planet. "I hate concussion missiles!" she lets out angrily. At least this time she isn't in any imminent danger of crashing into a skyscraper, though. "I'm dead in space here, Zulu lead," she adds, probably unnecessarily, before she opens fire on the Imperial ships still harrying the X-Wings. Just because she's dead doesn't mean she's going to let them get those X-Wings, if she can help it. Focusing her fire on one of the bombers, intent on getting revenge for those concussion missiles, she opens fire again. The light cruiser's engines burst and it spins and curls to sprint straight towards the planet, the pilot clearly very intimate with his ship as it slides through space, the engines at full burn, but still dead silent out in space. The X-Wings will take any help they can get at this point. "Appreciated, Camerata," Kyrin murmurs into their friendly comm. "We will return the favor." As she twists her ship away from Raven's fire, Zulu Eight gets another glancing hit, this one on the bottom starboard engine as he was rolling away from other fire. "Seven, Eight, target the shuttle. We cannot allow the Imperials to board the freighter. We must buy time for our allies to effect repairs if possible." The two Zulu craft that had harried the bombers, peel off, leaving Kyrin and Zulu 5 to deal with the rest of the TIEs surrounding Shael's ship. 5's stabilizer gives him a far more erratic flight than Kyrin prefers, but she can't help him now. Valiantly, he still tries to lock Alex Raven in his sights and fires at her. As Zulus 7 and 8 near the shuttle, 8 fades back slightly to cover 7 better. "Hurry up, Rayne!" he shouts as his own ship starts shuddering from a brief power surge that his astromech quickly deals with. Red bolts streak away from both X-Wings as they try to intercept the shuttle and prevent its mission of boarding. With their last attack run being very successful, Krieg takes his bomber and the other one as they begin their new attack run on the unknown freighter. He's really angry now it is getting through, Petra is so going to kill him for this now. He calls up the Broadsword, "Engage those X-Wings, everyone else protect that shuttle. Recommend use of the tractor beams to pull the freighter in." He has to deal with this other threat, an annoyance at best, and he's getting angry. Blitz can tell, and says, "Hey, keep cool, we have a mission to run." Krieg nods, doing his best to take the craft in. Meanwhile, the other TIE interceptors pick up the X-Wings that attack the shuttle and open up. While Black Squadron launches from the deck the last of War Shrike preps and maneuvers into the flight line to launch from the hangar bay. In mere moments the space immediately surrounding the Broadsword is crowded with fighters before Black forms up and vectors in on Blacksword's six to add their fire power to that of the MKII's Splitting up their assets accordingly they pair up and focus in on the light cruiser that stubbornly insists on attempting to run the blockade in defiance of the warning from the Broadsword and their supposed clearance and protection. Captain Caiton issues a simple order to the Black Squadron Lead, "Make an example of him," she says before turning back to the TO share the targeting information and turn the weapons of the Broadsword on the X-wings instead of the Light cruiser. Many hands make light work, after all. Or perhaps its many shots make light be seen through the hull. Something equally poetic? The XO chimes in again, "Maneuvering speed," as the Broadsword alters vector once more, lining up one of the tractor beams to try to snag the freighter to bring it to the ship. The remainders of War Shrike provide cover fire for the Shuttle, targeting the Zulu's and providing a fire screen as the Shuttle maneuvers closer to the Freighter. With a careful hand the pilot of the shuttle succeeds in docking with the Freighter, despite its attempts to the contrary. Raven's MKII shudders and shakes, the ships beginning to make that bad sound only heard right before it falls apart. Granted, this sound is only covered in training. After all, these aren't the sort of sounds a pilot hears and often walks away from. She begins to hum again, feeling the MKII falling apart at the seams, so to speak, and despite the orders echoing via communications she gears up for the last run she'll make. "Long live the Empire," are her last words before she fights the MKII with all her might to crash into the X-Wing in her sights. The MKII's 2-4 continue to engage the X-Wings in the deadly ballet, firing one round after another, taking damage and dealing it out as quickly as they can. Shael gets that infamous sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as the shuttle docks with her injured freighter, but keeps her attention on firing on the MK IIs still harrying the X-Wings that had been escorting her. "As much as I really hate to say this," Shael says into the comm, "I'm not seeing a lot you guys can still do for me. What're you hanging around here for?" She really has to question her sanity for given the only people with the power to help her right now her permission to bail. But really, what chance did they have of changing things now? "Thanks for the help, by the way." Try to run the blockade, Shael, she berates herself silently. It'll be fun, make a good story. Easy money, really. Right... The cruiser continues sprinting towards the planet, one of the crew members in a bubble-turret on the bottom of the ship swinging around and firing backwards at the scimitars chasing, spreading its fire out in their direction. The quartet of X-Wings doesn't seem to be faring too well. Fired at by their Imperial counterparts and then the bloody Broadsword... it's just too much. Even as Kyrin manages to turn her lasers on Alex Raven's ship, damaging it enough to make it a very wobbly affair, Raven's actions make such a victory very pyrrhic indeed, as Zulu 5 pays the price for it. The latter X-Wing was also on very wobbly ground, and his least favorite stabilizer blows at the worst possible time, and Raven's last act is a victory for the Empire instead, Zulu 5's pilot's scream cutting off as his ship turns into a blossom of death. However, Zulus 7 and 8 manage to stitch the shields on the Imperial shuttle... too little, too late, and 7 starts swearing into the comm again, especially as one of the MkIIs leaves a signature in green fire along his shields. And then the Broadsword. Zulu 7's cursing cuts off abruptly as one massive bolt from a turbolaser gets the ship on the upper starboard wing, spinning it around like water caressing a waterwheel and spinning down to a river. The X-Wing simply explodes, throwing shrapnel in all three directions. 8's pilot screeches an obscenity never heard before in Republic space because he just made it up. It's an obscenity because he decides it is. Casting the stick over, he arcs away from the shuttle and the conflagration, but still not safe. Meanwhile, Kyrin still does what she can to salvage something of this mission. "You have my apologies, Camerata," she murmurs softly. "May you fare better than we." And she continues firing upon the nearest MkII, her electronics telling her bad news. The bombers that Krieg is leading get fire inbound, but at the speeds they are at in pursuit it does not even come close. They get good locks, fire again. The missiles are away, then they get orders that come across their screens to break off and let the ship go; it was not worth their time. Apparantly someone of higher rank had something else they wished to come of that craft, perhaps some ground force. They break off, letting the missiles track on their own. Krieg calls back, "Darksword flight breaking off and returning." Meanwhile, the TIEs stay engaged with the X-Wings, seeing one of their comrades take a foe down. A sad end, but one worth the finish. As they come back, however, the battle seems to have drifted in their direction. The TIEs break off when Blitz communicates with them their intentions. The attack from the scimitars comes at a totally new angle, something the other xwings probably didn't take into account. The two bombers light them up with their lasers as the Broadsword gives fire from the opposite direction. The light cruiser continues to haul ass away from the bombers, the light cruiser flying through space like a fighter, the engines leaving a trail almost long enough for the bombers to touch. As they both launch missiles, the ship goes into a controlled tight maneuver of turns. Wibble smirks as one of them sails around and blows up at the ships nose harmlessly just before the other explodes in the stream of fire, causing the ship to buck sharply and cut downwards. The Chadra-fan manages to stabilize the ship though, and dive into the planet's atmosphere, leaving the bombers in the dust, it's atmospheric speed almost twice that of the fighters. The shuttles shields take enemy fire even as the ST's prepare to board the freighter by force, the ST's geared up and moving out even as the shuttle rocks slightly from the enemy fire. The commander of the Team receives a signal from the Broadsword and holds aloft one hand to halt his men as the Broadsword fixes the tractor beam accordingly and begins to tow the Freighter in, the shuttle still attached. Providing cover fire still, the Broadsword takes out Zulu-7 and damages Zulu-8. With the fiery crash of Raven into Zulu-5 the Broadsword begins actively sweeping for more targets. War Shrike forms up and continues to provide a fire-screen between the freighter and the axis from which the rebel fleet could attack. Captain Caiton signals to the hangar bay, "Prepare to receive fighter units and enemy freighter." With MKII-1 out of the game for good, MKII-2 takes another hard hit and wobbles alarmingly, the pilot trying to speak calmly to the maintenance crew of the Broadsword before falling back and heading back to the Broadsword, mostly in one piece. MKII-4 forms up with War Shrike, damaged to the point that he can still fly, but the landing may be a bit tricky. "Get out of there!" Shael yells futilely into the comm, as she sees two of the X-Wings defending her explode into spectacular fireballs. This isn't how it was supposed to happen. This isn't how it was suppose to work! Shooting a brief and nervous glance back over her shoulder, Shael fully expects to hear Stormtrooper boots tramping up her hallway at any moment. Even with the tractor beam pulling her in, she doesn't quite understand why they aren't. It does occur to her, however, that they can't fire upon her as long as their shuttle is attached to her. So there's nothing to stop her from trying to take out her frustrations on the War Shrikes. Just because she hasn't had much luck hitting anything yet is no excuse to stop now. Whether it's determination, or just plain stupidity, Shael continues to fire. When the Freighter opens fire, despite being towed towards the Broadsword, despite the fact that there's an Imperial Shuttle docked to her like an angry leech, the Captain of the Broadsword suddenly smiles. "TO," she says calmly, "Ion cannon," indicating the weapon she's ordering a firing solution on. "One round," she adds. "Lets try to avoid hitting our boys, shall we?" she comments in a quiet, faintly musing, tone of voice. The leader of the ST's steps back, speaking via helmet to his men to fall back to the shuttle with enough time to spare for the pilot to seal off the shuttle and kick away from the freighter. The ion cannon fires one concussive volley at the Freighter. After all, resistance is futile - persistence is deadly. Black squadron scatters in an explosion formation, clearing the way for incoming fire to be targeted at the freighter if the captain of the freighter does not surrender accordingly. In the middle of the incoming fire and the scattering of Black Squadron, one more of the MKII's gets hit, doing further damage. The pilot reviews the warning lights and the annoying computer enumerating the problems before he signals the Broadsword, "Sir, it looks like I may need to walk home." More death from the Broadsword rains upon the remains of the X-Wing patrol. Zulu 8 never stood a chance. Even as he was trying to get away, to take the news back at the very least... the bolts of energy strike his ship dead astern as he fled. And Zulu 8 is no more. Alone, Kyrin likewise tries to do the smart thing and escape, to live and fight another day. And surprisingly, she actually manages to evade some of the shots tracking her ship, bobbing and weaving through the fire like she did that day on Cochran. However, she's not lucky all the time. Her shields hold against the first shot. They get blown by the second. Her X-Wing is summarily changed from 'excellent' condition into something that's two steps up from 'even Han Solo wouldn't fly in this thing'. Another shot completely blows the canopy off, nearly frying the pilot within. Singed but not severely injured, Kyrin hurriedly puts in a series of commands to the astromech, even as her life-support system kicks in and the zero-gravity environment ensures she's drifting almost lazily in space. Now tumbling through the vacuum, the Chyleni pilot reaches down into the remains of her cockpit and tabs the button to activate the commands she'd programmed in. As inertia makes her face toward the Imperials, her grey eyes seem undaunted as she faces what might be her own death. "To the very end," she whispers, and Ghost 4 microjumps away, gone in an instant. At least the Imperials wouldn't get their hands on her ship. The Darkswords and the two TIEs that escorted them before form up once again, much like a victory formation of sorts, as it has been a good day not letting this freighter go for them. Krieg thinks to himself that Petra won't kill him either now... Blitz smiles and says to Krieg, "Nice shooting." "Thanks," replies Krieg, as the lasers were not something Blitz had control over. They watch as the X-Wings turn into fireballs at this point, it was always a good thing to see the other side getting hit and not them. Though when the freighter fires on one of their wingmen it goes sour fast - a friend almost becomes a point of light as well. Quickly comm chatter has the Broadsword calling the ships away, and for the shuttle to unlatch. Blitz remarks, "Looks like they are going to shoot an ion cannon into it - serves the pilot right." Krieg replies, "I think they deserve a heavy turbolaser, if you ask me." They keep in a good formation until the freighter falls silent. "Oh, f-" Shael flicks over to a public comm, not sure if they intend to blast her with ion cannons or turbolasers. She's pretty sure she doesn't want to find out. "Okay. Sorry. I'm done now. Powering down, honest!" she shouts into the comm as she puts her words into actions, powering down all her weapons systems. For good measure, she even takes the blaster out of the holster at her hip, and tosses it down onto the floor. Definitely not a good day. It is almost with regret that Captain Caiton signals for her tactical officer to cease fire. She so badly wants to ask, 'Are you sure you want to surrender? This is just starting to get fun.' But she doesn't. Barely. After all, she's not supposed to have a sense of humor. She signals for the freighter to be hauled into the hangar alongside the squadron ships already returning and being moved into their designated slots for repairs. Black Squadron remains as a fire screen between Broadsword and the vector from which the insurgents might attack yet again. One never knows, after all, what those rebels might do. As soon as the freighter is hauled into the hangar bay a swarm of technicians attack the freighter, stripping it of every single spare component, wire, panel, anything that can be stripped off of it is removed and tossed into a neat pile to the side. The pilots that have already disembarked their fighters join in, lending a hand, to storm into the Freighter and keep the Pilot under guard while the cargo is lifted as well, tossed to the deck. A lot of cargo, that is. From the holds, hallways, quarters, everything stocked and stacked and completely confiscated. One of the pilots even raids the mess for the rations and fresh food, not even a crumb remains when he's done. It's almost comical how much the pilots would like to dispose of the Freighter pilot, but orders are orders. With Black Squadron standing by and the rest of the fighters recalled to the Broadsword in a neat, coherent order, everyone and everything that can return under it's own power does so. MKII-4 gets a complimentary tractor-tow into the hangar as well, since walking home isn't all that fun. Once the checklist is complete and the final nod given, the hangar personnel step off the ship, confiscating the pilot's blaster of course, before the freighter is hauled up and ejected from the hangar at a low but steady pace. Another signal from the captain and the debris is rounded up with another tractor beam and positioned in place. "Consider this a parting gift," she signals to the captain of the freighter before she nods and the force of the tractor beam hurls the debris and the stripped freighter in a collision course aimed at Coruscant. "Enjoy the ride," she adds. Once accomplished, Black Squadron continues to fly on patrol around the Broadsword for a while longer then lands, one at a time. As Krieg comes back in his bomber, he watches the shuttle move over to a rebel pilot who seemed to get clear of their craft before whatever happened. The team aboard, in any case, would know how to deal with that pilot. The bombers come in and land along with the fighter escorts, followed shortly by the shuttle and new prisoner.